The sport of soccer has grown tremendously in popularity and participation during the past few years. As a result, numerous soccer leagues for players of both sexes and all ages have been organized in cities nationwide, and a large effort has been put forth to train these players, novice and otherwise, in the finer skills of this sport.
Soccer, however, is significantly different from most sports since it emphasizes, with the exception of a goal keeper position, the use of the body and feet rather than the hands. Thus, for example, it often becomes necessary for a soccer player to stop a moving ball with various parts of his body, including the head, chest, shoulder, thigh, or foot. Adding to the difficulty of this maneuver, known as "trapping", is the fact that the ball may be traveling in virtually any direction and a variety of speeds. In addition, the ball may be spinning rapidly, causing it to follow a curved path and making it even more difficult to trap.
Another important skill in the sport of soccer is the ability to change the direction of a moving ball without stopping it in order to pass the ball to a teammate or to attempt to shoot the ball into the opponent's goal. Again, a skilled player must be capable of executing such maneuvers with almost any part of the body regardless of the speed, direction, or spin of the ball. Furthermore, in the fast sport of soccer, a player must be able to react quickly in a particular game situation in deciding whether to trap the ball, pass it, or to take a shot on goal.
Typically, a soccer team practices such soccer skills by forming its players in a single file line and having the coach kick or throw the ball toward the players one at a time. Each player in turn executes the particular maneuver being practiced and then returns to the end of the line and so on until each player has practiced all of the desired skills. This practice method, however, suffers from many substantial disadvantages. For example, the soccer coach, standing some distance from the players, has a very poor vantage point, thus making it difficult for him to identify specific deficiencies in the players' style. Furthermore, if the coach wishes to correct a particular error and to demonstrate the proper movement, it is necessary for him to approach the players and then to return to his former position, thereby wasting much valuable time. Moreover, oftentimes a coach is unable to propel the ball accurately so as to permit the players to execute the particular skill being practiced. Thus, repeated attempts are required until each player has had an opportunity to execute the proper maneuver. Therefore, as a result of these deficiencies, it is common for several hours to be consumed in practicing just a few basic soccer skills.
In the past, machines having one or two rotating wheels to propel a ball have been utilized to facilitate the practice of certain sports. Typically, such machines include a hopper containing a number of balls which are gravity fed to a location near the rotating wheels. The wheels then engage the ball and cause it to be propelled toward the players.
Although such machines are in common use today, they are designed and constructed only for sports in which relatively small, uninflated balls, such as baseballs and tennis balls are used. These machines therefore do not adequately meet the particular problems associated with propelling larger inflated balls, such as soccerballs. For example, overinflation can cause a soccer ball to be slightly larger than similar balls of the same nominal diameter. Present practice machines, however, are not provided with means for protecting such oversized balls since the uninflated balls they shoot are not damaged by their rotating wheels. Examples of such prior art machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. Re 28,462 to Halstead and 3,604,409 to Doeg. Furthermore, although these prior devices disclose the use of variable-speed wheel motors to vary the speed or spin of the balls they shoot, none do so in connection with shooting a soccer ball. In addition, such devices are capable of shooting only a single, standard-sized ball, whereas several sizes of soccer balls may be used depending on the age of the players.
Furthermore, in order to change the direction in which such prior art machines shoot the balls, it is necessary to move the hopper as well as the rotating wheels. This is not difficult where, as in the prior art, the machines utilize relatively small hoppers which are still capable of containing many of the smaller tennis balls or baseballs. The devices shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,086,903 to Scott and 3,794,011 to Newgarden are illustrative of this point. However, for these prior art machines to hold the same number of soccer balls, their hoppers would have to be much larger and therefore much more difficult to move when a change of ball direction is desired.
For these and other reasons, the prior art does not fill the need for a practice machine suited for propelling large, inflated balls, such as soccer balls.